the clerk: h.r. 1, an act making appropriations for the department of defense and other departments and agencies of the government for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2011, and for other purposes. mr. coats: mr. president, i would like to call up amendment 3391. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from indiana, mr. coats, proposes amendment numbered 3391. mr. coats: mr. president, i'm cognizant of the fact that we will have a series of votes beginning in just 15 minutes, and so even though the unanimous consent request on this amendment is for 30 minutes equally divided, i'm going to try to judiciously use this time between myself and senator alexander to explain why we're offering this amendment and hopefully our colleagues will be persuaded to support us when we vet on this probably tomorrow. we are all, of course, sensitive to the pain and damage inflicted by mother nature on the northeast. in fact, some of the northeast is getting some more of that pain with the storm up there today. no state or region in our country should be left